Here is a guesthouse (homestay) we have fond memories of. It’s called Jiuqiong B&B and is located in Shuili Township, Nantou County, which is in central Taiwan
![Simple but clean room](https://taiwaneverything.cc/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/20141113-DSCF7584.jpg)
Simple but clean room
The guesthouse is a few minutes south of Shuili town by car, a short drive uphill from Highway 21, taking you about a hundred meters above the Chenyoulan River bed. You’ll find yourself amidst a small, intimately-knit tea farming community that cannot be seen from the highway, hidden away behind tree cover. The families have been here multiple generations. The owner, quiet, friendly Chen Ming-cong, decided to build his simple, attractive cottage-style verandah-fronted guest rooms after long putting up eager tea-aficionado visitors in his own home who had come to buy up his tea the moment harvesting began – for which a set date is impossible to guarantee.
[the_ad id=’7373′]![Homestay owner Chen](https://taiwaneverything.cc/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/20141114-DSCF7838.jpg)
Homestay owner Chen Ming-cong
![Tea tasting](https://taiwaneverything.cc/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/20141114-DSCF7874.jpg)
Tea tasting
![Light tea](https://taiwaneverything.cc/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/20141114-DSCF7868-750x500.jpg)
Light tea
![Strong tea](https://taiwaneverything.cc/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/20141114-DSCF7867-750x500.jpg)
Strong tea
Chen gives guests a free edu-taste tour of Taiwan teas, and clearly enjoys the sessions as much as his visitors do. You can buy his processed tea to take home; he grows an Oolong/Assam hybrid developed at the important experimental station at Sun Moon Lake, higher in the hills to the northeast, set up by the Japanese when they ruled Taiwan (1895-1945). As well, be sure to walk the railway-tie stepped trail accessed right beside the homestay, which follows the edge of a narrow side valley, taking you through tea fields to dramatic suspension-bridge views over a small town, betelnut-tree stand, and sculpted terraces topped with neat tea-bush rows.
(Rooms start at NT$2,700; simple breakfast provided.)
![Garden and pavilion of homestay](https://taiwaneverything.cc/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/20141114-DSCF7786.jpg)
Garden and pavilion of homestay
![Suspension bridge close to homestay](https://taiwaneverything.cc/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/20141114-DSCF7740.jpg)
Suspension bridge close to homestay
![Neighbors](https://taiwaneverything.cc/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/20141114-DSCF7911.jpg)
Neighbors
![Plum tree blossoms](https://taiwaneverything.cc/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/20141114-DSCF7686.jpg)
Plum tree blossoms
![Homestay resident](https://taiwaneverything.cc/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/20141114-DSCF7909.jpg)
Homestay resident
Add: No. 91-1 Ancun Lane, Shang’an Village, Shuili Township, Nantou County
(南投縣水里鄉上安村安村巷91-1號)
Tel: 0919-838-199 / (049) 282-1198
Website: shuili2007.myweb.hinet.net/subcostata.htm (Chinese)